i have not found one in delhi till date.... but some north easter guys do come with our jersey to ambedkar so will try to look for it again .. panasonic are our new sponsors.......

p.s. we have never lost the match in which i have gone to the stadium.. so plz find some guys to finance my trip to Qatar in 2011 :P
but maybe it only valid till ambedkar so m definately going for these friendlies

At age 14, when I was selected to my district (Trivandrum, Kerala) football team for my age group, as a goalkeeper by the selectors, the coach wouldn't train or play me because I'd taken the place of someone he knew. Under my parent's pressure, I had to quit. Disgusted, I never tried out again. That's another thing in India. With the existing social conditions, parents actually discourage their children from undergoing proper football training. That means that the system is not even tapping into 10% of the talent pool of the nation. Add to it the lack of funds, facilities, grass roots know how and coaches and cricket hogging up all the limelight. I wouldn't get my hopes up too high on the future of Indian football till these things are sorted out first.

Haha.. Of course..
Well, he kept refering to me as 'mairu' (that's pubic hair in Malayalam) over those two weeks.. And I called him a 'pundachi mon' (and that's bastard in Malayalam. Could come in handy if anyone here's planning on visiting Kerala. ) just before I left.

btw
necromancer- they do customize jersey in delhi.. i have loads of milan's jersey.. all customized.. of course they charge extra 500 bucks for it but then if ur giving freakin 2900 better give 500 more and get it immortalized by getting no. 3 on the back ...

Thailand v India: Men In Blue Set For Thai Encounter
Friday, September 3rd, 2010 | Posted by Debapriya Deb

THAILAND
V
INDIA

Yamaha Stadium, Bangkok
4th September, 2010: 3:00 PM IST

In its first international match since the triumph of 2009 Nehru Cup, Team India is all set to take on Thailand in a friendly encounter to be played at Yamaha Stadium in Bangkok on 4th of September 2010. Team India have just wrapped up an impressive Portugal tour with 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats against Portuguese second and third division outfits, and immediately after the training program in Portugal, this will be an ideal opportunity to measure the team’s improvement ahead of 2011 Asia Cup.

The Thai national football team is currently ranked 104th, 34 places above India in the latest FIFA rankings and placed at 16th position in the AFC rankings. Team Thailand is an excellent mix of young and experienced players and their coach, former England and Manchester United Legend Bryan Robson has called up quite a few promising Under-23 players for this friendly match. The team has defeated Singapore by a solitary goal in their last international friendly tie last month and the coach is looking forward to build on a promising squad and gain important exposure ahead of the 2010 Asian Games. The fact that Thailand remain unbeaten on their home soil since November 2009 will be an added boost of confidence for this talented bunch of young footballers.

Goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan, who has been reportedly recommended to Manchester United goalkeeping coach Eric Steele by Robson, is a player to watch out for. He helped his club side Muangthong United to clinch the Thai Premier League with an inspirational display below the bar; which in-turn helped him to cement his place as the first choice goalkeeper in the national team. Experienced striker Sarayoot Chaikamdee, the scorer of the solitary goal in the win against Singapore, will be a real threat for the Indian defence. Everton’s youth product Teeratep “Leesaw” Winothai is expected to partner Chaikamdee in the Thai attack. The key player for Thailand is their gifted play-maker Datsakorn Thonglao, who has the experience of playing in top flight European football for German Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern FC. Thonglao is known for his excellent passing abilities and scoring amazing goals from dead ball situations – Indian defense should remain careful in not conceding any unnecessary free-kicks near the box as this can prove to be a recipe for disaster against a player of Thonglao’s calibre.

Indian coach Bob Houghton is expected to field the strongest possible team, sans star striker Baichung Bhutia. Baichung is short of match practice after recovering from injury and may be used only as a late second half substitute. In his absence, veteran midfielder Renedy Singh will assume the duty of the acting captain. Kansas City Wizard striker Sunil Chhetri, who scored a couple of braces in the recently concluded Portugal tour, will partner an in-form Mohammed Rafi in the striking department. Rafi had a wonderful I-League season last year being the top Indian goal-scorer and since his national call-up, he has impressed one and all with his amazing goal scoring ability. In the absence of Baichung, this is the perfect occasion for him to secure his place in the squad as the third striker with another shining display.

In the Portugal tour, Bob Houghton experimented with the midfield combination by fielding different sets of players. Renedy Singh was tried out of position in the central midfield from his preferred left wing position. It seems the coach is willing to use Renedy’s excellent ball distribution skill to greater effect by putting him in the playmakers role and he may look to continue with the same set-up in this match as well.

N.P. Pradeep is a certainty in the central midfield. If Renedy is selected to partner Pradeep, in that case Climax Lawrence will have to warm the bench and may be used as a substitute later in the second half. Steven “David Beckham” Dias will be playing on the right wing and will look for whipping in quality crosses for the Sunil-Rafi combo to poach in. Anthony Pereira is expected to play full 90 minutes on the left wing – as the other left winger Rahim Nabi is ruled out of the tie with a hamstring pull.

Indian defence looks pretty settled with a host of quality players. Consistent impressive performances by Gaurmangi Singh and Anwar Ali have relegated the more experienced central defence pairing of Mahesh Gawli – Deepak Mandal to the substitutes’ bench. Surkumar Singh remains the preferred right back in Houghton’s era and a fit again N.S. Manju is expected to fill in the left full back position. Ever reliable Subrata Pal will be the very first name to be put down on the team-sheets and his mere presence under the bar will be enough to instill confidence in the defensive line-up.

Although these friendly matches are being played mainly for the purpose of providing the team with international exposure, both the coaches will be looking to infuse a winning mentality in the players ahead of more sterner tests. Expect both the teams to fight out a battle and grind out result in their favor before the return leg of the tie, which is scheduled to be played at the Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi on 8th of September.

Last Encounter:

Both these teams last met in the year 2003 in Bangkok and Thailand came out superior in that friendly match with a 2-0 win over their Asian rivals.

The star striker will be India’s prime hope for scoring goals. He is in terrific form and will look to continue his impressive display in the national colors. After joining the national team in the Portugal training camp, he played in four tour matches and scored as many goals – with a couple of braces against second division outfit Sertanense and third division club Uniao Serra.

Despite goalkeeper Subrata Pal’s heroic performance, Indian national team lost by a solitary goal against Thailand in the first friendly encounter held at Yahama Stadium in Bangkok on Saturday evening. Thailand’s star striker Sarayoot Chikamdee’s 73rd minute strike separated the two sides that are due to face each other for the return leg on 8th September at Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi.

Thailand dominated the match from start to finish, keeping a healthy ball possession, whereas India mainly relied on counter attacks. Bob Houghton opted for his preferred 4-4-2 formation with Mohammed Rafi getting the nod in place of yet to recover Indian Captain Baichung Bhutia, to partner Sunil Chhetri upfront. Climax Lawrence was declared fit before the match and the senior midfielder was handed the captain’s arm-band as well. Mahesh Gawli was a surprise inclusion in the left back position ahead of N.S.Manju while Surkumar Singh filled in the right back position.
Houghton’s Thai counterpart Bryan Robson also went for a strong first 11, as expected, with talismanic goal scorer Sarayoot Chikamdee leading the front line, and the experienced Datsakorn Thonglao marshaling the midfield. Thailand, playing in favorable home conditions,started off the match as the more positive of the two teams. The home side dictated the early proceedings and created quite a few decent opportunities, keeping the Indian defenders always on their toes.
The first real chance of the match fell for Chikamdee in the 21st minute, but his thunderous strike was brilliantly saved by Subrata Pal to keep India on level terms. A couple of minutes later Surkumar Singh tried his luck with a long range shot which was easily collected by the Thailand goalkeeper.
India survived another scare near the half-an-hour mark when Thonglao’s close range effort ricocheted off the goal bar, with Subrata completely beaten. Five minutes before the half time whistle, Teerasil Dangda wasted an opportunity to put Thailand ahead by firing agonizingly wide of the far post from a very close range.

Sunil Chhetri came closest to registering a goal for India just before the stroke of half time whistle, but the goal-post came up to Thailand’s rescue, as his excellent effort unfortunately got rebounded off the crossbar.
The second half started on a more positive note for the visiting team as they tried to slow down the tempo of the game by keeping the possession of the ball as much as possible. But, it was once again Thailand who looked more likely to be able to break the dead-lock.
With just about 30 minutes remaining in the match, Houghton made a change and substituted an ineffective Steven Dias with Clifford Miranda. Anthony Pereira moved to his preferred right wing position and Miranda operated from the left flank.
Thai midfielder Phichitphong Choeichiu forced a fine save off Subrata Paul in the 70th minute; but even the brilliant performance from the reliable custodian failed to inspire his team-mates, and Thailand broke the stalemate with a fine goal by Sarayoot Chikamdee three minutes later.
Renedy Singh replaced Climax Lawrence at the central midfield with ten minutes to go before the final whistle; after the change, India looked more threatening and pressed for the equalizer. Mehrajuddin Wadoo then came off the bench for N.P.Pradeep, but it was too late by then. Thailand had one more goal disallowed for off-side, one minute from time. Thailand held on to their own fort, seeing off the remaining couple of minute’s stoppage time to register a dominant 1-0 win and they will certainly start as the more confident team ahead of the reverse fixture to be played at New Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium on next Wednesday.
———————————————————-
India Line-up: Subrata, Surkumar, Gaurmangi, Anwar, Mahesh, Anthony, Climax (Renedy 80’), Pradeep (Mehraj 80’), Steven (Miranda 66’), Rafi, Sunil.
Thailand Line-up: Sinthaweechai, Panupong, Surajit, Chonlatit, Theeratorn, Pichitpong, Thonglow, Rangsan, Nutnum, Dangda (Thonkanya 75’), Chikamdee

Indian national football team recently concluded their two month long preparatory camp in Lisbon, Portugal as a part of their project “Goal 2011”. The team went for the European camp on 30th June and spent the month of July training at a camp at Vierra, 200 km away from Lisbon. This was the fourth consecutive trip of the “Bhangra Boys” to Portugal and they ended the trip with a satisfactory tally of 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.

Out of the 30-man squad initially picked by Bob Houghton, only 28 were able to participate in the friendlies as Indian skipper Bhaichung Bhutia and defender Samir Naik had to head back home due to illness. Bhutia was diagnosed with Thyroiditis on July 16th and although he joined back the camp a month later, he is still lacking match fitness.

India played their first match against Caldas SC under the stand-in Captain Rennedy Singh and secured a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Portugese second division club. They continued with an impressive 6-2 win over GDR Monsanto in the second tour match. After a hat-trick of wins, India suffered their first tour defeat in the hands of Su Sintrense in their fourth encounter by a solitary goal margin.

Meanwhile star striker Sunil Chettri joined the squad after taking time off from his MLS team Kansas City Wizards, but yet India had to wait for their sith fixture against Real Massama to get back to the winning ways after drawing the fifth encounter. The last four matches saw India losing one to CD Mafra and winning two with the last one against Odivelas FC ending in an one all stalemate.

Here we take a glance at what all lessons we have learnt from this Portuguese camp in all our departments.

Attack:

Bhutia flowing back in mid July and Chhetri busy with Kansas City Wizards meant that we had to be without the services of our lethal striker duo for the training camp. Although Chhetri was released by Wizards in early August to be a part of the national camp, but this gave an opportunity to our attacking substitutes Abhishek Yadav and Mohammed Rafi to show their prowess.

The pair of Yadav and Rafi faired well in the first half of the tour with Yadav scoring two goals in his six appearances. Yadav was exceptional in the air but injured himself in the match against Uniao Serra. Rafi, who was on his first European trip netted four goals and was the star of the Indian front line as he formed a comfortable partnership with different striking combinations.

Mid field:

Injuries to the dependable first choice mid-fielders proved to be a thorn for the Indian team in this tour. Steven Dias and Climax Lawrence, both of whom would have been an indispensable part of our staring eleven, missed quite a few of the tour matches owing to injuries. This was a golden opportunity for our younger crop of players to shine, but Rakesh Masih and Jagpreet Singh couldn’t do justice to their selection in the main team. Even though they were without any on-field mentors, but they should have taken this occasion with arms wide open, but unfortunately they failed fill in Steven and Climax’s boots. Veteran play-maker Renedy Singh had to carry the entire midfield burden alone in his broad shoulders and he did admirably well.

Defense:

Defense did not look quite convincing in the tour games and some experienced defenders were caught off guard quite a few times, as they conceded sloppy goals against third and fourth division Portuguese teams. Govin Singh and Mohanraj didn’t impress much in the backline and it seems they will have to warm the benches for some more time. It was evident that Surkumar Singh, Gouramangi Moirangthem, Anwar Ali, N.S. Manju will form the first choice backline with veteran Deepak Mondal and Mahesh Gawli as their able substitutes.

Goalkeeping:

Bob Houghton shuffled his goalkeepers in different tour games and all three of them, Subrata Pal, Subasish Roychowdhury and Arindam Bhattacharya performed well in the matches they played. Pal is by far the first choice keeper for Houghton, but with the improvements shown by Bhattacharya in the recent months, it will be a mistake on the part of Pune FC goalkeeper if he takes his place in the National team for granted.

Bob Houghton had stated before leaving for Portugal that India will surely play one friendly match against a club from the top flight - something he and AIFF failed to deliver. With as much as seven friendlies promised in the month of September, only two have been confirmed, both against 104th ranked Thailand. AIFF is trying to arrange few African nations for the friendlies and Namibia has been confirmed as one of the teams visiting our country in September, but the Englishman is a bit reluctant to play against African nations and has instead insisted for a couple of friendly camps with the clubs from Western Asia, keeping an eye on the Asia Cup. With Asia cup scheduled in early January and India set to face the likes of Australia, South Korea and Bahrain in the group league matches, it’s high time the management gets their act together and provides our national team some decent international sides to practice with. Bob has to be given credit for the progress Indian football has made under him in past few seasons, but not even his loyalist will agree with him on his call for more camps than international friendly matches.

India would like to put behind the disappointment of last Saturday when they take on Thailand, tomorrow at the Ambedkar stadium in New Delhi. India who were thoroughly outclassed by the young Thai team in the away fixture on the 4th of September would rely heavily on home crowd support this time around. Thai coach Bryan Robson said in his post match interview that although he was impressed by the skills of the Indian team, they need to work laboriously on their fitness. The India team played almost with a non existent mid field in Bangkok and would be hoping that their experienced mid fielder Steven Dias comes good in the capital if they plan to trouble Robson’s men.

The clouds are still looming large over the availability of defender Samir Naik for the return encounter and Bhutia if declared fit can be used as a substitute by Houghton.

Indian and Thailand both have an Englishman at the helm of their teams but both of them have a different propaganda altogether. With a number of under 23 players in the Thai squad their coach had clearly stated that he is choosing his line-up keeping the Asian games in mind. Where as, Indian coach Bob Houghton yesterday refused to release any player from his current squad for the Asian games as his focal point is the 2011 Asia Cup.

Only six players have been retained by ex- Manchester United Midfielder from Saturday’s match with goal scorer Sarayoot Chaikamdee and experienced midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao making way for their captain Nattaporn Pharnit and goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan respectively who were not in the squad for the match over the weekend. With only five players over the age of 23, it is pretty evident that India, who would be taking on Australia, South Korea and Bahrain in Qatar in January, will be far from facing a full strength Thai national team.

In spite of taking on a team placed 34 places above them it will be a totally different ball game on the 8th of September and India is expected to step on the field as firm favorites when they play the South East Asian team in the national capital. Ambedkar stadium has been a lucky hunting ground for the Indian national team off late, with a hat-trick of trophies coming from 2007-2009. So we should expect nothing less than a capacity crowd this Wednesday when India take on Thailand in their first International match on their home soil in over a year.

Probable Line Up (India):

Last Encounter:

Both of them met last Saturday at the Yamaha stadium, Bangkok with an inexperienced Thai team trouncing the Indian side 1-0 after completely dominating the fixture for 90 minutes.

This 23 year old Pune FC goalkeeper was the only saving grace for India in their away defeat against the young legged Thailand national team. Paul has been the protagonist in almost all major victories for India in the recent past. It was only his bizarre and outstanding reflexes that helped Indian team maintain a decent scoreline against Robson’s men in Bangkok.